As many as 3 million U.S. women may be unknowingly at risk of heart disease because they suffer from coronary microvascular syndrome (CMS), according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) study.
Women with CMS may have shortness of breath or chest pain, but, upon visiting their doctor, be told nothing is wrong and sent home. That’s because CMS is not detected by an angiogram, which is widely accepted as the best test for diagnosing heart disease.
Unlike typical heart disease cases, in which accumulated plaque in the large arteries shows up as bulky clogs, in CMS plaque “evenly coats” the very small arteries of the heart. The arteries are too small to appear on the angiogram, much like “seeing a pine tree’s branches but not its needles,” said Dr. George Sopko, a heart specialist at the National Institutes of Health.
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